SOLIDWORKS IS GOLDEN IN CALIFORNIA WITH 13,000- PLUS USERS

CONCORD, Mass., July 10, 2002 — More than 13,000 product designers in California use SolidWorks® three-dimensional computer-aided design (3D CAD) software, the company announced today. Juniper Networks, Teradyne, Fairchild Fasteners, TRW Astro Aerospace, Hobie Cat, and Delta Design are among the more than 3,000 businesses in the state that use SolidWorks to design everything from spacecraft systems to semiconductor equipment to catamarans.<br/>

California is among the states with the highest concentration of CAD users in the country. This market has spawned many large resellers including 3D Cadware, CAD Graphics, Digital Dimensions, GEI Technology, GoEngineer, Hawk Ridge Systems, Pacific Automation, and Solid Design Solutions. These businesses sell and support SolidWorks 3D CAD software and have created the largest installed base of SolidWorks in the United States.<br/>

SolidWorks’ speed and accuracy help designers around the state, according to Greg Cunningham, vice president of sales at SolidWorks reseller Digital Dimensions, Inc., which serves San Diego County and Arizona. Having worked in the mechanical CAD industry with SolidWorks for more than six years, he said his customers average a 20 to 25 percent savings in design time using SolidWorks. Some report as high as a 50 to 55 percent increase in productivity. Because it’s easier to visualize products in 3D than in 2D, customers find they save time and money by building fewer physical prototypes. With 3D, they can identify interference and fitting problems during product development rather than during production, which ultimately leads to quicker time-to-market. The percentage of scrap material companies have to discard during manufacturing due to engineering errors decreases significantly when they use SolidWorks.<br/>

“It is extremely rewarding for us when customers say, ‘Because of SolidWorks, we are able to design our products right the first time,’” Cunningham said. “California-based companies have always been progressive in their adoption of new design tools. Many early adopters saw the value of moving to 3D with SolidWorks several years ago. In addition, this state has a considerable number of start-up companies, many having no legacy 2D or 3D CAD system constraints to start with, making SolidWorks an easy first choice.” <br/>

“SolidWorks has grown into the standard for 3D CAD in California. That’s largely because the companies there appreciate our innovation and our understanding of what’s probably their biggest issue – time to market,” said Mike Crismond, vice president of North American sales at SolidWorks. “Just about everything we do in developing products and partnerships is geared toward reducing the amount of time it takes them to roll out new, high quality products. That focus got us to the head of the pack in California and the rest of the world as the most widely used 3D CAD product in the industry.”